In its previous game against Dartmouth, the Harvard women's hockey team (11-14, 5-13 ECAC) pushed its opponent to the brink of defeat before succumbing in overtime, 5-4.

Now, needing to win all four of its remaining league games to qualify for the postseason, Harvard must play with the same intensity against Dartmouth and Boston College this weekend.

"We'll have to play one of our best games [against Dartmouth]," said junior Courtney Smith. "Dartmouth has a different style of breaking the puck out, and we'll need to adjust our forecheck."

The Crimson forechecked well in the first game against Dartmouth.

"Our forecheck was really good," Smith said. "We just played a great game. Neither team let up."

The Harvard-B.C. series this season is even more encouraging, as Harvard has taken the first two games, including a win in the first round of the Beanpot.

"We'll need to stick to our game against B.C.," Smith said. "We always have a close game with them."

Harvard enters tomorrow's joust with Dartmouth after fending off Bowdoin, 5-2, on Tuesday.

"We could have beaten them by more than we did," Smith said. "It gives us some momentum, but not all that we need.

"We need to win games that count--we need to win big games. Two wins [this weekend] would be huge," she said.